Mature Couple Medication Stock Photo

What You Should Know About Surgical Errors & Medical Malpractice

Get Your Free Case Review!

"*" indicates required fields

Name*
How would you like us to contact you?*

When people hear the term “malpractice” they generally think of complete incompetents or malicious mad scientists. The truth is, medical malpractice can happen just about anytime to anyone. A single mistake by an otherwise competent physician can cause a lifetime of difficulty for the person affected.

Collecting damages from malpractice isn’t about ruining careers; it’s about helping you to make ends meet when your life falls apart due to someone else’s careless error. Learn everything you need to know about malpractice, what you should do if it happens to you, the damages you can collect, and how an Odessa medical malpractice lawyer can help.

What Is Medical Malpractice?

Medical malpractice occurs any time a doctor or other medical professional makes a mistake that causes harm to another person. Doctors are required to abide by certain standards of care to protect their patients, and if they perform in such a way that they fall below those standards, and this substandard care causes you harm, that’s malpractice.

This is important: not every mistake is malpractice. If a doctor makes a misdiagnosis, but any number of doctors could’ve made the same mistake, that’s not necessarily malpractice. If they overlook a glaringly obvious factor in their diagnosis, however, malpractice may apply.

Malpractice in Surgery

Malpractice often is seen in lawsuits revolving around mistakes made during surgery. Often, errors that occur during surgery are eminently preventable, and these can cause irreparable or long-term harm to patients. If a surgical error goes beyond normal risks you accept due to informed consent, it could result in malpractice.

For example, doctors who cause nerve damage, who use too much or not enough medication, who make the wrong incision, or even leave a piece of equipment inside have committed malpractice. In the worst cases, surgery may be performed on the wrong area of the body or even on the wrong patient!

Causes of Malpractice

There are a broad variety of causes for medical malpractice. These can include sheer incompetence — the surgeon or doctor is unfamiliar or inexperienced with the procedure and decides to go it without more experienced help. Insufficient planning and improper steps taken during the work progress are another common cause. This can include doctors failing to properly communicate with their patients or other staff.

Sometimes doctors suffer from fatigue after working long hours. Tiredness can cause mistakes. To offset this some doctors turn to alcohol or drugs to cope with exhaustion and stress, which impairs their judgment and reflexes. Finally, simple neglect can result in injury.

Calling an Odessa Medical Malpractice Lawyer

If you’ve suffered an injury at the hands of a negligent doctor, you can be entitled to a sizeable settlement for your future medical bills, your lost wages, emotional trauma, lost relationships, pain and suffering and more. But hospitals will have teams of experienced attorneys helping them, and you need someone in your corner who can protect your rights.

Calling an Odessa medical malpractice lawyer can give you your best chance of getting a sizable settlement for your injuries. For many years the legal team at Braker White, have helped people just like you. Contact our office for a free consultation and learn how we can help you today!